


shadows of divine perfection

by Zerrat



Category: Drag-On Dragoon | Drakengard, Drakengard 3
Genre: Awkward Crush, F/F, Four has it bad, Intonercest, Pre-Canon, Pseudo-Incest, Unknown Branch, and Five thinks it's hilarious
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-19
Updated: 2014-11-19
Packaged: 2018-02-26 06:44:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2641979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zerrat/pseuds/Zerrat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>During the early days of the rebellion against the warlords, Four and Five accompany One to a fortification in the Land of Seas. Four is spellbound by everything One is, and at some level, even she knows that it will get her in trouble some day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	shadows of divine perfection

The rebellion was only in its early days, and for now, the weight of their duty in freeing the people of the lands was something the Intoners had to bear alone. It was both a curse and a blessing - while they hardly had the soldiers or support to take the lands by force, Four admittedly felt some... distaste at the idea of any but she and her sisters joining One on her mission. 

Today, Four and Five had been chosen to accompany One, and followed One along a lonely coast in the Land of Seas. Half a pace behind her, Four's eyes were fixed to One's back, watching and spellbound as they trudged on through damp sand. One was the shortest of them, slight even beneath all the layers of fur, wool and leather. A lack of height hardly meant a lack of power. 

Four followed the path One took them, between windswept dunes and bluffs, rigidly certain of her sister's choice of direction along the coast. One was impossibly strong, after all. She was righteous. She was _perfect_. Really, she was the leader that the dark world around them needed, a beacon of light to the warlords' darkness. Every town they'd passed through since beginning their task had driven that point further home - that the people of the world were broken and defeated in some terrible, profound way. 

The people _needed_ One, and in turn, One needed her sisters. That was why Four and Five accompanied her to act as the guardians of their elder sister. Two and Three had been left behind in the forest cottage they'd revitalised, and Four had really felt a swell of pride when One had picked _her_. 

Of course, One had also picked Five, and maybe that was merely because Five was... _taller_ , Four supposed. Really, Four was the dependable one, and Five was merely making up the numbers. She'd be able to counter some of Five's more disgusting proclivities and keep her mind on the task. 

For One, she'd do anything at all. 

So far, Five had been unusually quiet as they'd crested the dunes, the massive cross-sword slung over her shoulders, ignoring her proper place behind One - and really, behind Four - so that she could walk side by side with their elder sister. It was disgusting, the way she kept batting her eyes in One's direction, and frankly, Four wanted to be sick. 

How One could put up with Five's... _panting_ at every moment was beyond her entirely. She shouldn't have needed to at all! 

Four didn't speak up, however, for that was hardly her place. One would deal with the matter, privately of course, she was always one for discretion, and Four would never dream of encroaching upon that. However, that hardly meant Four couldn't shoot her younger sister simmering, narrow looks whenever Five had the sense of shame to get her eyes off One. 

She'd merely shrug at Four's glare and go back to ignoring her, gazing at One as if she was... some sort of piece of _meat._

The fortress they were heading for was fortification that had sprung up on the other side of the next ridge, set against the ocean-blasted cliffs practically overnight. The warlord - or lady, Four wasn't quite certain, and a part of her didn't care - had always moved swiftly to put down any murmurs of rebellion within days of hearing it, and she'd done so with terrifying prejudice. 

Had they been human, perhaps this warlord might have succeeded. But they were Intoners, and whatever soldiers the warlord threw at them, they took down just as hard. It was a message, stunning and brilliant - for those that sought to uphold the unjust status quo of the world... they'd be next. 

Really, Four didn't mind the blood on her clawed bracer, soaking her stockings at the knees, coating her boots. All it meant was that real change was being wrought, and she relished it. 

Either way, the fools holed up in the cliffs ahead of them would meet just the same fate as all the others if they sought to oppose the Intoners. Four wouldn't hesitate to do whatever was necessary to ensure One's success in this mission - or her safety. 

At the very least, that made her better than _Five._

When they arrived at the makeshift fortifications, the soldiers were ready for them, the scouting party One had allowed to flee having returned quickly with news of the Intoners' approach. Four caught movement in the rocks and scrub above the stockade, and her lips tightened. Archers, then, and on the ground, there was a barricade of overlapping shields at every conceivable entry point. 

Four crossed her arms, exhaling sharply. If it had been up to her... she shook her head, displeased. 

"Oh, they are just so _adorable_ ," Five said, just to Four's left. She set the tip of her spear in the sand, tossing her golden curls back over her shoulder, and her laugh soft and husky on the ocean breeze, sending a shiver - disgust, surely - down Four's spine. "They truly think so few men could stop me? I could take more than that in bed. Such a pity, too. I just know there'd be a few gems among them."

Four's lip curled, and the look she shot at Five was one of barely controlled anger. Even now, she persisted...? "We are not here for such _activities,_ Five. They are the enemy -"

"They are sworn to their lady just as you have sworn yourselves to me," One cut in, her voice mild and soft, but it was enough to end Four's beginning tirade immediately. Her expression was blank, unreadable as she scanned the troops before them, the chain of her chakram coiled about her fist and the blunt edge of it resting against the steel of her gauntlets. 

"They swore to the wrong person, then," Four insisted, because the very idea of choosing a tyrant over _One_ was an insult at best. She watched One incline her head, and her stomach fluttered. Was that agreement? Four just couldn't tell, not with the leash on her emotions One had come to use these days. 

After a moment, One looked back to her sisters, her crimson eyes serene. "Whatever the case, if we wish to depose tyrants, we ourselves must be merciful." 

Four didn't really understand why One would even bother with mercy. They were in the _right_. She knew One understood that, that every starving villager with defeated, haunted eyes weighed on her conscience. These soldiers... she held her silence, her mouth tightening. 

"You want to see if they'll join us," Five said after a moment, her voice amused. Four wished she'd just shut up - but more than that, she wished she'd seen One's plan before Five had. "My, my. How crafty, dear sister."

"We are Intoners. Our fight is for the people." One turned her gaze to the soldiers before them, nodding. "Even the ones that choose to oppose us."

Frowning, Four trailed behind both One and Five, her mind working back over her elder sister's words, circling, trying to understand. _Mercy._ Well, One was the oldest and the wisest, but for their absent sister Zero. Perhaps she had the right of it, and Four wanted to laugh at herself. Of course One did - why did Four ever bother questioning her? _Mercy._

"Men of the Land of Seas," One started as they began to approach the barricade. There was a touch of song in her voice - nothing that would compel, for One would never bother with such a thing, but enough to make it carry. The brush of One's song, perfectly controlled and so _close_ , was enough to set Four's heart to pounding. She swallowed, her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth and goosebumps raising across her shoulders. 

"Please," One was continuing, spreading her hands. Her empty hand was a peace offering, the one that held her chakram a threat. "We are the Intoners your lords and ladies have bade you fight. I implore you - set down your arms. We mean to create a better world for all, and we wish for no blood to be shed this day."

The announcement was met with nothing but silence, and never to be discouraged, One scarcely blinked. She didn't waver or shift nervously the way Four did, or sigh and roll her eyes, impatient like Five. Four kept her eyes on her elder sister, tried emulate her from the set of her shoulders to the confident, expectant tilt of her chin. 

Four wanted nothing more than to be just like One, but really, that seemed a dreadful simplification of things. Maybe it was more that she wanted - 

One's eyes narrowed, just for a second, and before Four could register what was happening, Five was between One and the arrow, deflecting it with a sharp flare of yellow light from her wrist and to the ground. There was a long moment of silence, and Four's heart was pounding, furious, desperate and unbelieving in her chest. They'd attacked One, and she hadn't so much as moved a muscle. _Five_ had protected One, while she had just -

"For Lady Caerula!" one of the soldiers on the ground roared, and within moments, the others joined him, swordsmen stumbling out from their positions amongst the rocks, men with shields charging forward. 

Four heard One exhale softly, her lips tightening a fraction. 

"So be it," One said, looking back over her shoulder and back to Four and Five. "We take the fortification by force. Any who surrender... show mercy."

Four forced a nod and Five sighed loudly, but regardless of their own opinions on the matter, they moved at One's command. Really, Four had to make up for her failure to protect one - she had something to _prove_ as she threw herself into the throng of soldiers. One could count on her. She _could_. Four had just been unprepared for such a cowardly attack. 

But her eyes had been on One instead of on the potential threat, spellbound and breathless, and it had been Five who had stepped in. Five. It was galling, but not as galling as the shameless audacity of the men who had attempted to take One's life. 

Four snarled, low and violent beneath her breath as she rammed her fist into the nearest soldier's helm, her fists denting the steel and caving in his breastplate. He fell to the damp sand with a gurgle and a gush of choked blood through the grill of his helmet, but she had no time for him as she rounded on the next. 

One had been in danger, and it was all their fault! While it would have been impossible for One to be felled by a mere arrow, the very principle of it set her every nerve on fire with outrage. She caught the overhead strike of the next soldier on her clawed bracer, the edge of his sword raising sparks hot against her cheek. She knocked him flying with a backhand, using her momentum to launch herself into a roundhouse kick that sent half a dozen men flying back through the sharpened timber blockade. 

Blood splattered as splintered wood tore through flesh, and Four's eyes narrowed as the screams tore through the air. What exactly had they expected, facing Intoners in battle? They'd gotten what they deserved. They only had themselves to blame. 

Her immediate vicinity cleared, Four's gaze darted around for One. She'd happily lend her sister a hand, put her body between One and any that might harm her - Four's entire chain of thought shuddered to a halt. 

It had been weeks since Four had seen One move in battle, watched her twist and turn with the arc of her chakram. She was flexible, _powerful_ , moving the circle of whirling steel with infinitely practiced motions, spiralling the chain about her forearm and gauntlets, about her torso to control her range with precision. 

Four's heart began to thrum in her chest, her breath coming fast but not at all from the battle, her face growing hot as she stared. One moved like water, that was it, flowing from one move to the next without pause, guided by something far beyond Four's grasp of the song. It was _perfection_ , and it made Four's body tremble. 

She swallowed, trying to get beyond the dryness of her tongue, completely captivated by the efficient brutality of One's concept of mercy -

Hot blood splattered to Four's cheek, jerking her from her reverie. The swordsman had been so close, Four realised numbly, staring at the trembling blade high above his head. The tip of Five's spear protruded crudely through his throat, arterial blood still gushing, and when Five yanked it free, he crumbled to the sand. Five was grinning, delighted by the carnage, her face and throat and breasts smeared with crimson. 

Against it all, Five's teeth were far too white, her smile far too wide. Four hated the very sight of her. 

"Our dear sister is breathtaking, I'd be the first to admit it," Five said with a laugh, and she devoured the distance between them in an instant, her bloodied gloves flashing out and knotting tight in Four's collar. "But you'll ruin that pretty waistcoat of yours as well as your panties if you let one of these big, strong men skewer you all unaware. Imagine how _sad_ that would be, to die so... unfulfilled?"

Four's face flushed impossibly hot - how dare Five imply _anything_ of the sort? Her anger ignited, a spark to dry tinder as she hissed out, "I was watching to ensure her safety! Not that you'd ever understand that it doesn't need to be -"

"Surely it wouldn't kill you to be honest with yourself, for just the once," Five cut in, all but crooning the words, her breath warm against the cooling blood on Four's cheek. Her gaze flickered over Four's face, searching, and her eyes narrowed when her bait was ignored. She shrugged then, tossing her hair back over a graceful shoulder as she looked to where the dunes still rang of battle. 

Four tried to resist it, she truly did, but she couldn't ignore the pooling tension in her gut, hot and heavy and distracting. She could hear every flash of One's chakram, she realised desperately, she could hear One growling beneath her breath as she executed some perfect whirlwind of flashing steel. Four had to look again. She _needed_ it like she needed air, needed - 

She refused to finish the damning thought, averting her gaze as One finished the last of the men who stood in their way. The anger still coiled deep in Four's chest and stomach, and when she looked back to Five, she realised her younger sister had not been watching One at all. Instead, Five's eyes were fixed on _her_ , pupils dilated, her lips parted, and Four's skin _crawled_. 

"I was merely watching _justice,_ " Four forced out, and her voice trembled as Five's scrutiny did not. "These men answered to Caerula. They're guilty of her crimes by association. I'm glad they're dead."

Five laughed then, as if delighted by that sort of answer. "Just when I thought you could hardly be more of a piece of work, Four!" Her eyelids fluttered, her lips curving into the sort of smile that made Four ache. "I do so love it when you surprise me."

What exactly did Five expect of her? She was not some sort of... _whore_ to be bedded with just a smile! Four's jaw tightened, and she stared up at Five without blinking, refusing to back down. Not this time. Her hand curled into a fist, tightening until her clawed bracer groaned with it, and still Five would not look aside -

"We're done here," One said, her tone one of disappointment. If she sensed the tension that had grown between Four and Five, she knew better than to remark upon it. "Perhaps we'll have better luck another time." 

Four's shoulders relaxed, and she looked aside finally, turning her attention back to where it needed to be, on One. Her sister was covered in blood from her battle - none her own, of course - but she scarcely seemed to notice the gore, her mannerism all business. All surety. Four's stomach tightened then. It was everything Four wanted. 

She allowed her eyes to track down as they left for home, trailing after One and before Five, silently roving the gentle curve of One's hips, the lean strength of her body. Really, the way One had moved in battle... Four couldn't help but shiver, cold and hot all at once. 

Five was wrong, though. She had to be. The only thing Four felt for One was merely... admiration. Admiration, and the all-encompassing hunger for One to maybe feel the same way about _her_. To maybe smile in her direction, to run her fingers against Four's cheek the way she used to. 

Four wanted _perfection._ She wanted it for herself, and she wanted it for the very world around her. That was hardly too much to ask for. 

Wasn't it?


End file.
